34 passive houses with solar thermal systems

34 passive houses with solar systems: more than 60 % of the total annual energy demand for space heating and domestic hot water will be covered by solar energy. (Graphic: OBOS)

You don’t need much sunshine to make economic use of solar thermal systems. Norwegian company OBOS is currently building a new passive house estate. The new buildings will be built in Mortendrud, where OBOS already launched development of 17 passive houses last year.

The houses on the new Stenbraatlia estate are solar-heated terraced houses, with up to five houses (134 m² each) linked in one row. They will be branded energy label ‘A’. Work on the land lots is moving ahead and construction will begin in early July.

The demand for energy will be reduced through passive measures, such as additional insulation and balanced ventilation with heat recycling. 14 m² of solar collectors will be integrated into the south-facing roof-structure, and the collectors will cover over 60 % of the energy consumption for both heating and hot water. Space heating will be distributed with a water-based underfloor heating system. The solar systems will be delivered by Aventa, a Norwegian company, established in 2005 that provides integrated solar heating systems.

Stenbraatlia is a model project in on-going research on passive and low-energy housing by the independent Scandinavian research organization Sintef.

Jan Gesthuizen

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